Musings From Abroad

India arrests 35 Somali pirates as part of operations around Red Sea

Published

8 months ago

March 23, 2024

Following 100 days of anti-piracy operations east of the Red Sea, where piracy has reappeared for the first time in almost a decade, the Indian navy turned up 35 Somali pirates to the police in Mumbai on Saturday.

After a hundred days of anti-piracy operations east of the Red Sea, where piracy has reappeared for the first time in almost ten years, the Indian navy turned up 35 Somali pirates to the Mumbai police on Saturday.

Three months after it was taken over off the coast of Somalia, India, the biggest country in the Gulf of Aden and northern Arabian Sea, apprehended the pirates from the cargo ship Ruen last week.

Pirates have attempted more than 20 hijackings since November, taking advantage of Western forces’ attention being diverted to defending shipping against attacks in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi militants. The development has increased insurance and security costs and created a crisis for international shipping companies.

The Houthis, who declare their support for Palestinians in Gaza in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, have been attacking the area since November, and as a result, shipping via the region has decreased by half as ships are choosing to circumnavigate southern Africa instead, according to the Indian navy.

According to the navy, India has responded to 18 instances by rotating the deployment of 21 ships and 5,000 people, boarding and inspecting more than 1,000 vessels. Several days have seen the deployment of almost a dozen warships due to its unparalleled presence.

“The task is to ensure that there is safety, security and stability” in the region, Kumar said.

“We can live up to the requirement of being a first responder and a preferred security partner… to ensure that the Indian Ocean region is safe, secure and stable.”

Before the Ruen was captured, Somali pirates had not been able to seize control of a cargo ship since 2017. In January, India sent at least a dozen warships east of the Red Sea to fend off pirate attacks and has examined more than 250 vessels.

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Musings From Abroad

Finnish court imprisons Nigeria’s Simon Ekpa for aiding terrorism

Published

20 hours ago

November 21, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Simon Ekpa, a Nigerian separatist leader based abroad, has been placed under detention by the Päijät Häme District Court in Finland on suspicion of inciting others to commit acts of terrorism.

According to the local daily, Helsingin Sanomat, the court rendered the ruling on Thursday following his arraignment by the Central Criminal Police for his involvement in the terror attacks that have afflicted the southeast area of Nigeria.

“The police suspect that the man has promoted his efforts from Finland with means that have led to violence against civilians in the region of South-Eastern Nigeria,” stated Otto Hiltunen, the crime commissioner and investigation head.

“The man has carried out his activity, among other things, on his social media channels.”

Hiltunen also informed the court that the police suspected four additional individuals in Finland of funding Ekpa’s activities.

According to the story, Ekpa is of Nigerian descent and was born in the Finnish city of Lahti.

His offence occurred between August 23, 2021, and November 18, 2024, according to court documents cited in the publication.

Ekpa is not the only person the police have arrested. In February 2023, they caught him at a private Lahtian flat, but he was freed the same day.

Through the Eastern Security Network (ESN) and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement, Ekpa has continued to be outspoken on social media, raising money and agitating for a Biafran nation to secede. In the southeast part of Nigeria, both factions have been involved in acts of violence, murders, and maimings.

Since gaining formal independence in 1960, Nigeria has seen the emergence of several separatist organisations. The latest surge of calls for self-determination among different ethnic groups has been louder under its immediate previous President Muhammadu Buhari.

Musings From Abroad

Malian singer Rokia Traore arrested in Italy, to be sent to Belgium

Published

2 days ago

November 20, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

After Italy’s top court denied her appeal, well-known Malian singer, Rokia Traore, who was detained in Rome in June due to a global child custody dispute, will be sent over to Belgium in the next few days, her attorney announced on Wednesday.

The 50-year-old Traore is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR and one of Africa’s most well-known vocalists.

“Rokia suffered an injustice. She was arrested without the Belgian criminal court hearing her voice. Now, the battle for Rokia’s rights moves to Brussels,” lawyer Maddalena Del Re said in a statement to Reuters.

The attorney also stated that in its decision late Tuesday, Italy’s Court of Cassation upheld an extradition decision from the European Court of Justice.

Under a European arrest order, Traore was taken into custody on June 20 at the Fiumicino airport in Rome. In October 2023, she was given a two-year prison sentence in Belgium related to a dispute over her daughter’s custody.

She had flown to perform outside Rome’s Colosseum, and she has been imprisoned in Civitavecchia, close to the Italian city, since her detention at Fiumicino.

Lawyer Del Re said that because a conviction was rendered without the defendant’s presence, the Belgian process goes against both international norms and Italian constitutional standards.

After she disregarded a court order to turn over her baby to her Belgian father, the singer’s divorced ex-partner, she was initially taken into custody in France in 2020 on a Belgian arrest warrant.

She disobeyed orders not to leave France until her extradition case was handled by taking a private jet to Mali months after being conditionally released. Mali is where her daughter resides.